Stop Teaching! Let the children learn!

Let Children Learn

I keep thinking about questions I used ask my parents when I was a child. The questions like:

Why should I go to school?
Why should I study?
Why should I go to college?

The typical answers that I get are :

To get a good job.
To settle down in Life.
To earn money.

I took these answers and moved on. I didn't really question and argue much on these answers.
But now I am a father and these questions have come back in my conscious. What will I answer when my son ask me the same questions? Will I bark on the same answers handed down by generations or should I take re look at the questions and find the actual answers?

So, Why should I send my son to school?

I don't think it is to get admission in a better college and in turn get a better job and eventually earn good money. In the ideal situation it should be to learn, experience and gain knowledge.
It should be to expose my son to various situations so that he experience and learn from the. It should be expose him to various new aspects and concepts of life and world (like animals, birds, trees, geometry, physics , so that he can absorb them in him and use them as and when required.
With this the next question rises.

Are children learning at school or are they being stuffed?

In current scenario the schools are under pressure and competition to show results and the results are measured in the percentage of students who pass the exams. So now the focus of the teachers is to make the children pass the exams and they do every thing they can to achieve. In this era of competition and expectations from parents the schools (and even parents) have misunderstood the meaning of education.

We think that more our children remember the words and information in their textbooks the more knowledgeable they are. The race is now to make sure our kids remember all the stuff that is out in the textbooks. If a child can reproduce what ever is mentioned in the text books or other books more accurately he/she is considered to be more knowledgeable. The more accurately he reproduces the nearer he gets to being labelled a genius.

So now every kid tries his/her level best to reproduce the books that they read or are told to read.

So, does textbooks determine what our children become?

We all know what we think is what we become.
If our children keep reading and reproducing the books, what they will eventually become are copying machines. The ones who are good at it are heroes of the school and ones who are not, well they are ignored.

Now these copying machines are our future. They determine the path that humanity will take and the future humans will follow.

I am really scared and then how come we have survived this culture so far. How come the situation has not become miserable so far. I believe it is because a lot of great people have chosen not to go to schools. If we just look closely  most of the people who have changed history (for good or bad) are the ones who have escaped the photo copying culture of our schools and colleges. They have been dropouts or just uneducated.

These brave-hearts have done great amount of work for the betterment of humanity in-spite of our schools.

So shall we drop our children from schools?

That would not be practical thing to do. I think we should let our children learn, experience and gain knowledge in-spite of their schools. I think we should not give too much importance to some aspects of the education system like exams, results, rankings and let our children enjoy education in a stress free environment.
We should expose our children to more real life experiences than simulated ones.Let them face the world as it is and learn from it, rather than theorizing about it in their minds. It's better if we just let them deal with various real life situations the way they want to deal with them. Let them formulate their one methods and ways of handling different situations.

I think the only thing we should do is to stop teaching and let our children learn.


JKS


Please read other children related articles at How To Make Children Listen and Children and Competition

Children and Competition

My 3 year old lad has started his journey in the confused and hyper competitive world of schooling and education. He is now in the first step of his schooling career known as PLAYGROUP.

He enjoys going to school, spending two hours of his day there and as per his school's monthly report learning a gamut of Rhymes, Behavior practices and all sort of pictury stuff. Which by the way he rarely displays at home. It's O.K I don't complain as long as he enjoys it.

The year has almost ended and it is time for the Annual Sport Event. Invitations where sent, parents where informed, the play ground was readied and on the sunny, beautiful Saturday morning the event began.

The main event of games for children started after the usual line of speeches from the many chief and non-chief guests.

The first event for the Playgroup team was "Ball in the Basket". The idea was to encourage the cute little athletes to run a straight 20 Meters while picking a ball in the middle of the track and depositing the same inside a basket at the end of the track.

Instructions by the constantly moving and running teachers where given, the whistle was blown, out of the five little Olympians three started  and other two where too busy figuring out what the heck was happening there. A lot of cheers from the eager onlooking parents and guests and lot of running by both the little Olympians and their teachers in various directions resulted in the three starters eventually basketing the balls.

Result: All the three kids where on the podium, enjoying their moment of glory.

Similarly many competitions happened and many winners where announced.

It was now time for the medals distribution ceremony.

Kids where being launched on the podiums in their respective positions by their constantly hyper teachers, medals where being posted on their necks by the many assembled chief guests and photography posses and sessions where going on simultaneously. The parents and the onlookers where cheering for the winners and having a jolly good time.

Throughout this whole glorifying the winner ceremony the images that stuck with me are:

      A little boy who came first in an event was terrified and was weeping on the podium while he was shoved a certificate and a medal was hanged on his neck.
      Most of the children who enjoyed running, picking, skipping, hopping and falling in the events where not at all interested which position they where on the podium. The 1st, 2nd or 3rd didn't make much sense to them.

These images made me think is this how we shove the concept of competition in the clean and clear minds of our children? Is it not enough for us, if our kids just enjoy the play and not worry about the results? Is it really that important to glorify the so called winners and ignore the rest?

Most of the parents just enjoyed the show and left, but some were still discussing all the 101 reasons why their son/ daughter did not finish 1st, 2nd or 3rd.

What are we trying to convey to our children with these competitions and podium ceremonies?

Are we trying to say that just competing wholeheartedly and with intensity is not enough? They are winners only if they grab a podium position? Have they lost in their effort if they are not in the top three?

NO!

THEY ARE ALL WINNERS !

If they competed with intensity and wholeheartedness they are all winners. Winning and losing should not depend on which position the child achieved, it should depend on his involvement and intensity in the competition.

Competitions should enable the children to participate with complete intensity and focus. By which they will discover the benefits of performing tasks with focus and intensity. They will discover the latent energy and talent that they have and how to whip them up when needed.

Competitions when focused on stirring up the involvement and intensity of the participants, will eventually open up doorways within our kids, which will let them fully enjoy and get involved in each of the little things that they do in their life.

Ultimately I think life should be about small, infinite moments of enjoyment all through the life, than one or two (falsely project) great, glorious moments of winning.

JKS